Chapter 16 Notes from The Chosen

The Chosen Chapter 16

After a two year silence, Danny simply tells Reuven that the ban has been lifted and that he can now communicate with his dear friend. With bitterness, Reuven shows his hatred for Reb Saunders and his hurt over the silence. Danny and his father still live in silence, a fact that disturbs both Reuven and his father.

Rav Gershenson's class becomes a joy for the two newly reacquainted friends, as they dominate class discussions with their debates. Danny has become fascinated by experimental psychology, still believing Freud to be a genius, but realizing the importance of experiments. He and Appleman believe he should go to Columbia University to become a clinical psychologist. He will tell his father when he receives his rabbinic ordination. Reuven cannot believe that Danny will become a psychologist, while Danny cannot believe that Reuven is to become a rabbi.

Danny's sister is married in June to another Hasid, and Reuven is the only non-Hasid in attendance. It is the first time he sees Reb Saunders in two years and the resentment and hatred only begins to grow. Over the summer, he visits Danny more often, but speaks little to Reb Saunders. He mentions nothing about the silence or Zionism and only shakes Reuven's hand, asking him why he doesn't come over to study Talmud on Saturday afternoons anymore. "That was all he said. Not a word about Zionism. Not a word about the silence he had imposed upon Danny and me. Nothing. I found I disliked him more when I left than when I had entered. I did not see him again that July" Chapter 16, p. 261.